A LOVE story will unfold when Warwickshire choral ensemble Armonico Consort puts its own spin on some of Handel’s loveliest opera music.

Too Hot To Handel launches the new season at Warwick’s Bridge House Theatre on September 24.

The ensemble is always looking for new ways to present Baroque music and its latest concept, created by countertenor and Royal Opera House regular William Towers, sees the story of two lovers is intertwined with arias from Handel’s many operas.

The result, says the Bridge House Theatre, is: “Handel opera as never heard before – romping from drama to comedy, from tragedy to laughter.”

It will be sung in English by soloists William Towers and Yvette Bonner with a chorus and a small orchestra.

The concert is among many classical music events lined up for the Bridge House Theatre’s new season.

The public will be the performers on September 25 when Trevor Barr invites people to sing Mozart’s Requiem with Canticum. Workshops will be held from 10.30am with a final free concert at 5pm.

Other classical music treats lined-up include concerts by the Warwickshire Symphony Orchestra on October 15 and December 11 and a chance to hear the winners of the Leamington Music Prize in a concert on November 23 featuring pianist Di Wu piano and mezzo soprano Anna Jeffers accompanied by pianist Jonathan French.

The New Year will bring another series of Sunday afternoon concerts from Music in the Round. Tickets 01926 776438 or visit www.bridgehousetheatre.co.uk

TEENAGE Proms star Benjamin Grosvenor is teaming up with the Warwickshire-based Orchestra Of The Swan for five concerts.

The talented 19-year-old, who this summer became the youngest person ever to perform as a soloist at the First Night Of The Proms, is the orchestra’s latest associate artist and will play in concerts in Stratford and Birmingham.

Benjamin has been winning fans since becoming a finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition when he was just 11.

His first concert with Orchestra Of The Swan will be on October 18 when he will play Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 21 at Stratford Civic Hall. The following day he will play the same piece in a concert – called Summer Nights and Schubert’s Fifth – in Birmingham to launch the orchestra’s popular Wednesday afternoon series at the Town Hall

He says: “I’m very excited to be associated with an orchestra that has gained a worldwide reputation for its innovative programming and superb recordings. I can’t wait for my first concert date.”

Benjamin will return to Stratford with the group next May 8 and to Birmingham on May 9 to play Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. And he will be back in Birmingham on June 6 for Grieg’s Piano Concerto.

OOTS artistic director David Curtis says: “Benjamin is on the threshold of a brilliant career and we can be certain of hearing a lot more of him in years to come.”

Other soloists appearing with the group in the new season include violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen, clarinettist Emma Johnson and cellist Julian Lloyd Webber.

THREE top choirs come together for a celebration concert in the Midlands tomorrow.

The concert at Birmingham Town Hall marks the 25th anniversary of the Association of British Choral Directors and is being hosted by American composer Eric Whitacre and choral conductor Simon Halsey.

Choirs taking part are Ars Nova from Hungary, the Cantamus girls choir from Mansfield and the National Youth Choir of Great Britain.

It will be a celebration of choral music from the Renaissance to the present day culminating with the world premiere of The Earth Hath Voice by Kerry Andrew and a massed choir finale. Box office 0121 780 3333.